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Opinion Contributor

Craigslist should shun sex ads

In recent ads in the San Francisco Chronicle and The Washington Post, female victims of sex trafficking highlighted the role they said the website Craigslist played in their exploitation.

The women pleaded with founder Craig Newmark to eliminate the adult services section of the site, where sex ads are frequently placed, until adequate safeguards are put in place to prevent women and children from being bought and sold for sex on his site.

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POLITICO 44

Unfortunately, Craigslist is not taking its role in the sex trafficking crisis seriously enough. In his response to the ad campaign, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster claimed that sex trafficking “rarely” occurs on the website. This is simply untrue.

In the 14 months since Craigslist first implemented manual screening, it has made only 109 reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. This means less than 1 percent of the 700,000 ads removed for inappropriate content were actually reported to the proper authorities. With roughly 300,000 children in the U.S. at risk of sexual exploitation each year, these numbers simply do not add up to a successful screening policy.

In the latest communication to Buckmaster and Newmark, 16 state attorneys general asserted the company’s “much touted ‘manual review’ of adult services ads has failed to yield any discernable reduction in obvious solicitations.”

Current measures by Craigslist to prevent sex trafficking are inadequate. In July, the Victims’ Rights Caucus and the Human Trafficking Caucus held a briefing on domestic sex trafficking of minors, where National Center for Missing and Exploited Children President and CEO Ernie Allen addressed the shift of sexual exploitation from the streets to Craigslist and other online venues, where children are marketed for sex.

“Craigslist has taken steps, including requiring credit card validation, screening ads, reporting suspicious ads to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and cooperating with law enforcement investigations,” Allen said. “Yet, American kids continue to be marketed and sold online for sex. The problem is not declining, it is growing. The goal is to end this insidious ‘industry.’ Craigslist needs to do more, and every other online classifieds company needs to join them.”

While Craigslist should be commended for engaging in some manual screening of ads on its website, the measures are still inadequate. As the largest and most frequented adult services website, Craigslist must take leadership in solving this problem.

Recently, Craigslist executives asked its users to start policing the website for illicit content. While we all hope that good Samaritans will report suspicious posts, Craigslist is ultimately responsible for the content on its site. And with expected earnings of $36 million dollars this year from its adult services section alone, Craigslist has the resources to prevent and respond to sex trafficking on its site.

Surely, a company as tech-savvy and innovative as Craigslist can prioritize this issue and come up with more effective screening methods. The reality is that there are thousands of Internet sites besides Craigslist that facilitate the trafficking of innocent women. However, as an industry leader, Craigslist bears the burden of setting and upholding a standard of behavior for others to follow.

One sex trafficking victim is one too many. Buckmaster and Newmark need to change their tone and join, rather than debate, those who are trying to fight this problem. Although this country is often polarized on many issues, we can all agree that Craigslist needs to take action to protect women and children from sex traffickers.

We echo the request made by the 16 state attorneys general for Craigslist to shut down its adult services section. Craigslist must take appropriate steps to screen the site for illicit content. “Trying” to fix this problem is just not good enough when children are the victims.

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) is the founder and co-chairman of the Victims Rights Caucus, and Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) is a member of the Human Trafficking Caucus.

Sanchez is a total hypocrite. She collects porno dollars at the Playboy Mansion on Tuesday (just google her and verify), and then runs this an editorial against Craigslist adult ads on Thursday. On Tuesday, she implicitly endorses the sexploitation of women by Playboy; on Thursday she becomes the sanctimonious defender of exploited women on Craigslist. Both the porno industry and the sex trafficking industry are driven by immorality and money. Apparently politics is no different. Oh well, no surprise--just google "loretta sanchez scandal" and you'll see what I mean.

By encouraging Craigslist to continue with their primarily prostitution-based ads, a message that this is okay and acceptable is sent. How is it better to condone exploitation, kidnapping, and rape, instead of eliminating such an easily accessible avenue? The adage that “money is the root of all evil,” epitomizes a scenario that allows Craigslist to continue with their “adult services” section.

With the various crimes, and pending convictions, connected with Craigslist’s site, I wouldn’t want to see what “worse” would entail. Instead it would be in everyone’s best interests to call for an end to Craigslist’s adult listings and stop this vicious cycle in its tracks.

By encouraging Craigslist to continue with their primarily prostitution-based ads, a message that this is okay and acceptable is sent. How is it better to condone exploitation, kidnapping, and rape, instead of eliminating such an easily accessible avenue? The adage that “money is the root of all evil,” epitomizes a scenario that allows Craigslist to continue with their “adult services” section.

With the various crimes, and pending convictions, connected with Craigslist’s site, I wouldn’t want to see what “worse” would entail. Instead it would be in everyone’s best interests to call for an end to Craigslist’s adult listings and stop this vicious cycle in its tracks.

Anyone with an IQ of 25 who's looking for sex has a million other sources. Can't some form of today's media be left to people with a higher IQ and goals in life other than the pursuit of sex?( I say this, married to a really hot life mate. Maybe these duds ought to look for marriage partners on Craigslist.)

Sex is wonderful, but it also brings with it many elements of danger. Craigslist managers have seen this too many times and should respond to it immediately by disallowing sex-oriented ads.

The print media can't get over the fact that Craigslist virtually put their classifieds OUT OF BUSINESS, by charging a fair price, not raping people (as in employment ad prices), and being user-friendly.

So this is all they can do. (But they are bye, bye anyway. And the print classifieds did nothing different than Craigslist).

With the highest per capita construction and operation of sexually oriented establishments in the country, I am sure the San Francisco of the South, Dallas, TX has a far greater problem with prostitution than its sister city in California. There are no bible thumpers here; Dallas is as liberal as it gets including all the special entitlements. We're kind of like Anne Coulter.

With the highest per capita construction and operation of sexually oriented establishments in the country, I am sure the San Francisco of the South, Dallas, TX has a far greater problem with prostitution than its sister city in California. There are no bible thumpers here; Dallas is as liberal as it gets including all the special entitlements. We're kind of like Anne Coulter.

Currently, there are 27 million slaves worldwide…2 million of which are children! This isn’t purely a third-world country problem. For those of you who live under this assumption, you are sorely mistaken. In the United States alone, between 150,000 and 300,000 children are enslaved and sold for sex. Slavery, unfortunately, is in our very own back yard.

One of the scariest statistics of the sex trade is how much money it generates. Each year, the global sex slavery market generates $32 billion in profits. I am sure it comes as no surprise that the money it generates does not trickle down to the creation of schools, clean water systems, or safe-sex education process. No, the sex slavery instead has become an increasingly important revenue source for organized crime because each young girl can earn between $150,000 and $200,000 each year for her pimp.

In the United States alone, between 150,000 and 300,000 children are enslaved and sold for sex. Slavery, unfortunately, is in our very own back yard.

. . .and, instead of concentrating on the actual problem, we are spending our time going after consenting adults.

There are finite resources. We should be using them against the actual problem. You are trying to throw everything into one category.

So, is it "sex trafficking" for a guy to go on a blind date? To use a singles website? How about to pay a dollar for a kiss at a charity fair? You seem to think that all prostitutes are slaves -- maybe in your town this might be true, but too many of those who are can't go to the police because THEY will be thrown in jail, thanks the the "anti-trafficking" laws.

Kids are bought and sold on craigslist. This is a fact, Craigslist doesn't even deny this.

If you honestly wish to learn more about human trafficking of both children & adults and what you can do to help, I highly encourage you to visit the following resources. I was certainly enlightened, perhaps you will as well.

Another slippery slope argument about the normalization of neurotic behavior and its associated paraphilias to children and the uneducated masses. How many straight women do you know that are actual prostitutes willing to expose themselves to the risk of AIDS and STDs as opposed to the number of sadomasochistic lesbian/bisexual females that you could randomly select off the street that do engage in the world's oldest profession? The progressives/libertarians want to normalize neurotic behavior and its associated paraphilias to children via borderline caretaker environments consisting of the homosexual/bisexual dyad via gay marriage, civil unions, and gay adoption. I think we have enough psychologically damaged children from married bisexual men and bisexual women. May we suggest that you move to Canada or Europe if you prefer to live in this type of environment.